Please do not remind me of customs: I have just received an order that I had sent to my Mum in Germany - customs held it for nearly two months and slapped on about 50% of the original value in customs fees. My recommendation: be very careful and prepared for the worst when you have anything shipped to Germany via EMS from China.

But now to the more helpful bit:I also have had good experiences with - http://www.jingtea.com. They are in the UK, good for greens and they have a great Blue Pearl gaiwan that is my go-to easy gaiwan for all things green

- http://www.qingtea.nlThis is a little company in Holland. I do not know to which countries they ship, you would have to ask. They have good quality pu-erh for a really ok price

- http://www.diekunstdestees.comFast delivery, nice tea table. I have them earmarked to try more tea from them as the samplers that I got were really good. They also seem to have some seriously high quality stuff which I have not had the funds for... yet.

- http://www.leastea.comThis is for me THE place to get Lins Ceramics Studio teaware (purion etc.). I have yet to dig in more to their teas to give any recommendation on that one. Their EU shipping costs strike me as very reasonable. They are also very helpful and the shipping is super-fast

- http://www.teegschwendner.deReally good greens. Tip 1: Try the Korean tea! Tip 2: Stay away from their pu-erh!!! They do not ship to the US due to customs restrictions

Hello everyone, I am from Germany and I always order my tea from TeeGschwendner.de, which is a franchise tea store chain here in Germany. You can go to one of their stores or order online.

Most of the time I order online because I looked at a couple of tests from different magazines who tested various tea brands. Many of them contained heavy loads of pesticides (especially green teas) and the TeaGschwendner teas have always been fine. This was an important issue for me because I started drinking green tea because of the health benefits.

In the meantime I have also started to enjoy drinking green tea. My favorite right now is China Gunpowder (which fortunately is not very expensive) and Barisan Oolong tea.

Has anyone else tried the Barisan Oolong tea? Or is it not a popular tea? The label says it's from Indonesia.

Has anyone else tried the Barisan Oolong tea? Or is it not a popular tea? The label says it's from Indonesia.[/quote]

The Barisan is one of my favourites: it is full flavoured and you have to try very hard to mess up a tea session with it. The only minor point that I have noticed about it is that it gives up after about 4 to 5 infusions... but then again I cannot really complain as the price is very reasonable.

I can also highly recommend the Korean Seogwang (green) - it is definitely a tea that manages to put me in a good mood even if the rest of the day was... not so good. Have you tried this as yet? If yes: what do you think of it?

Thanks for your reply. I'm glad you also like the Barison Oolong tea.Yesterday I googled the tea and did not find many sites on it and many of the sites that did show up were from TeeGschwendner, so I thought they are one of the main stores who sells it.Where are you from and where do you buy it?And is it a reasonable price. Here in Germany you pay about 10 Euros for 100 gr, which is not really cheap but it's still affordable.

No, I have never tried the Korean Seogwang. But I see they have it in stock too, so I will definitely try it if you say it's so good. Is there anything you can compare it with? But I'm afraid I do not know so many different tea types. The ones I know are:Barisan Oolong (obviously)Japan SenchaChina GunpowderGunpowder Temple of Heaven (but I like the "regular" one more)Milky OolongLung JingPhoenix Jasmine Dragon Pearls (I liked the Jasmine scent but the green tea itself was not exactly my favorite, it was very yellow-ish/brown-ish too)

NPE wrote:I can also highly recommend the Korean Seogwang (green) - it is definitely a tea that manages to put me in a good mood even if the rest of the day was... not so good. Have you tried this as yet? If yes: what do you think of it?

I have! It's the only Korean tea I've ever had so I don't have much to compare it to. I normally drink Japanese tea almost exclusively. I really liked the Seogwang as well. I'd describe it as a toasty, slightly nutty sencha. Very nice aroma, too. I really enjoyed it. Easy to brew as well.

The only problem I have with buying green tea at a brick and mortar store is that they usually are sold like black teas, from a big canister with lots of air in them, having sat at room temperature for who knows how long. It is kind of a dilemma when you would really want to support local businesses but know that what they are doing is not ideal. That being said, the tea I bought there wasn't super stale or anything.

How was the freshness when ordering from TeeGschwendner online (I never have)? Do the teas come prepackaged, in sealed bags?

Stentor wrote:How was the freshness when ordering from TeeGschwendner online (I never have)? Do the teas come prepackaged, in sealed bags?

Buying the tea online produces the exact same result as going into the brick and mortar store: the tea is packed in the same way - and just as fresh, I guess, as from the big store canisters. I have not noticed any difference, in any case. They are very quick - but then again I have so far only ordered within Germany (delivery to my parents) and then picked it up from them the next weekend.